Shoe sole cleaning machine



SHOE SOLE CLEANING MAGHINE Filed April 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 0 1,11-a 2'6 45/ I 72; :j; I l INVENTOR Sine/'0 KUZ 5 l 5 BY 9 i 5 9 47 WPATENT AGE N 7' Jan. 11, 1966 y s. KUZ 3,228,052

snow SOLE CLEANING mourns Filed April 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 R-4 (iF49 8 -48 f V J I L i K t i i a '45 INVENTOI? PATENT AGE/V7 Jan. 11,1966 s. KUZ

SHOE sow CLEANING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 5, 1965 ,w VEN70/? .Sl'nol'a KUZ PATENT AGENT Jan. 11, 1966 s. KUZ 3,228,052

SHOE sou: CLEANING MACHINE Filed April 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

72 74 7/ 60 7/ 6 7, 1 a 75 iiiisiiiiiiiki miiiii INVENTOI? Sinor'd K02 129. 14 QWW PA TENT AGENT United States Patent" 3,228,652 SHOE SOLECLEANING MACHINE Sirloid Kuz, 2355 Wurtele St., Montreal, Quebec, CanadaFiled Apr. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 445,534 Claims. (CI. 36)

The present invention relates to a device for cleaning shoe soles,adapted to be installed at the entrance of private homes or publicbuildings, and has for its general object a power-operated machine whichcleans the soles of a person standing or walking on the same in a fastand efiicient manner, by providing a plurality of brushes moving incontact with the soles.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a machine ofthe character described, provided with means to contrive the personsdesiring to enter a home, or public buildings, to have both shoe solescome in contact with the machine before being allowed access to thebuilding.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of amachine of the character described, which, in accordance with a firstembodiment, is specially designed for use in conjunction with theentrance of private home.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of asecond embodiment of the machine of the present invention, which isparticularly designed for use in the entrances of public buildings,

The foregoing and other important objects of the present invention willbecome more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring tothe drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the main elements of the machine inaccordance with the first embodiment, for use in association withprivate houses;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section, taken along line 3-3 of FIGURES 2 and 4;

FIGURE 4 is a partial longitudinal section, taken along line 44 ofFIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a partial section taken along line 55 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a section taken along line 66 of FIG- URE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a longitdinal section of the machine;

FIGURE 8 is a partial cross-section, on an enlarged scale, taken alongline 8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a partial cross-section, on an enlarged scale, taken alongline 99 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the machineand of its drive and control box;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the machine ofthe invention as installed in the entrance of a public building;

FIGURE 12 is a schematic longitudinal view of the same;

FIGURE 13 is an elevation of part of the operating mechanism of theembodiment of FIGURES 11 and 12; and

FIGURE 14 is a partial view, taken along line 14-14 of FIGURE 13.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which like referencecharacters indicate like elements throughout, the machine in accordancewith the invention comprises a rectangular box 1, open at the top andpreferably provided with a cover 2, hinged to the back of the box 1 andnormally maintained in open position by means of brace arm 3.

A rod 4 extends longitudinally in the center plane of box 1 and over thesame, being secured to said box by means of front and back brackets 5and 6. Grating members 7 extend across the open top of the box on eachside of dividing rod 4. Each grating member 7 consists of a plurality ofspaced parallel longitudinally extending flat bars 8, laid on edge,rigidly secured at their ends to transverse flanged members 59 and 10,respectively, so as to form a rigid unit.

Each bar 8 has an enlarged front end portion 11, as shown in FIGURE 7,and the front angle members 9 and back angle member 10 form downwardskirts, slidably fitting within upright transverse partitions 14 at thefront and back of the box 1, secured to said box. Thus, each gratingmember 7 is movable up and down with respect to box 1, between a lowerlimit position in which the top flanges 9' and 10 of the members 9 and10 abut against and rest on the top of the box 1, and an upper limitposition.

The grating members '7 are resiliently urged into an elevated positioneach by means of four compression coil springs 17, each surrounding anupright push rod 18 supported by and slidable within a bracket 19secured to the outside of upright plates 14 at the front and back of thebox 1. Push rods 13 are secured to transverse members 9 and 10.

Each coil spring 17 rests at its lower end on the lower flange ofbracket 19 and its upper end abuts a disc 12 secured to rod 18 under thetop flange of bracket 1'9. The upper limit position of the gratingmembers '7 is defined by the discs 12 abutting against the top flangesof brackets 19.

Each pair of bars 8 defines a longitudinal passage, in which is locatedan endless belt 21! carrying a plurality of brushes 21, which arenormally disposed at right angles to and outwardly of the endless belt20 and have a fan shape, so as to slidably contact the bars d.

Brushes 21 are secured to the endless belts 20 by means of couplingmembers 22 designed to permit limited pivotal movement of the brushtowards the belt in one direction only. Each belt 20 is trained onpulleys 2.3 at the front and back of the box 1.

The pulleys 23 are preferably made of rubber with disc-shaped metalflanges 24, protruding from the pulley itself to confine the endlessbelt. Pulleys 23 have teeth 25 to frictionally engage the endless belt20. The pulleys 23 for the several belts 26 are mounted on commontransversely extending shafts 26 journalled in boxes 27 secured to theends of longitudinally extending frame members 28, disposed on theoutside of lonigtudinally extending partition members 15, as shown inFIGURE 3, said partitions 15 being secured to box 1 and to transversepartitions 14 and located adjacent the outermost bars 8 of the twograting sections 7.

Shafts 26 freely extend through vertical elongated slots 29 made in thelateral bars 8, and through vertical slots 29 made in the side plate 15.The front shaft 26 extends further through a front slot 30 made in theside wall of box 1.

The two shafts 26 are interconnected by, pulleys 31, on which aretrained rubber belts 32 on both sides of the machine. The two shafts 26are urged upwardly to abut the upper end of slots 29 by means of springs33, shown in FIG. 3, hearing at one end under frame members 28, and atthe other end against the lower flange of longitudinal partitions 15.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 10, the front shaft 26 protrudes laterally ofbox 1 and is connected to an intermediate shaft 34 by means of universaljoint 35. Shaft 34 is in turn connected by universal joint 36 to a driveshaft 37 which enters a box 38 and is connected to the output of aspeed-reducing unit, the input shaft of which is connected to anelectric motor, not shown.

Box 1 is located on the outside of the exterior wall 39 of a house, withintermediate shaft 34 passing through said wall, and the power box 38disposed inside the house.

In order to prevent cold air from entering the house through the holethrough which intermediate shaft 34 extends, sealing discs 40 areslidable on intermediate shaft 34 and are urged against the two faces ofthe wall 39 by means of coil springs 41.

The electric motor for driving the brushes is controlled by twoseries-connected electric switches, not shown, actuated by the followingmeans:

Referring to FIGURE 3, a rod 42 rigidly secured to each grating member 7and depends downwardly therefrom at the front of box 1, is pivotallyconnected at its lower end to a bell crank lever 43, which is pivoted tobox 1 and 44 and which has its lower end pivotally connected to acontrol rod 45.

Each bell crank lever 43 is urged by means of a tension spring 46, so asto pull the control rod 45 away from the control and power box 38. Thetwo control rods 45, one for each grating member 7, extend through thewall 39 and enter the box 38, wherein each mechanically actuates anelectric switch, the two switches being mounted in series and so thatdepression of both grating members 7 must be effected in order to startthe electric motor driving the brushes 21.

Preferably, a third control rod 47 extends between boxes 1 and 38, issecured directly to box 1 inside the latter and is connected inside box38 to an alarm-sounding mechanism which becomes operative upon pullingof rod 47. This constitutes a system to prevent robbers from removingbox 1 which is normally located outside the house.

Each grating member 7 is provided at the outer corners thereof with alatching arm 48, freely pivoted at its upper end 49 to the outside bar 8of the grating member 7, and an external reinforcing bar 50, secured tothe outside bar 8 at both ends, said latching arm 48 having a steppedfree end 51 adapted to engage the top and one side of shaft 26. Thefunction of arms 48 will be described hereinafter.

The control rods 45 and 47 are preferably covered by casing 52 extendingbetween box 1 and wall 39, to prevent tampering with said control rods.

A pan 53, shown in FIGURE 7, is disposed in the bottom of box 1 and isremovable from one side thereof, said pan being adapted to collect sand,dirt, salt and the like, brushed olf from the shoe soles of the user. Aremovable receptacle 13 adapted to collect dirt is located inside thecover 2.

A transverse rod 54, as shown in FIGURE 7, extends in the path of thebrushes 21 of the lower run of the endless belts 20 so as to clean saidbrushes. Another transverse rod 55 is provided with idle rollers tosupport the middle section of the upper runs of belts 20 to preventsagging thereof. Transverse rods 54 and 55 are rigidly secured to theframe members 18 by brackets (not shown).

The machine in accordance with the first embodiment operates as follows:

In the inoperative position of the machine, the grating members 7 are intheir elevated limit position under the action of coil springs 17 actingon push rods 18. The assembly of the endless belt 20, brushes 21 andtheir frame members 28, is maintained in an intermediate depressedposition, due to the fact that the latching arms 48 carried by thegrating members 7, are latched to the shafts 26, as shown in FIGURE 5.Thus, the bristles of the brushes 21 of the upper run are maintainedslightly below the top edges of bars 8 of the grating members 7, becausethe brush assembly is lowered simultaneously with gratings 7 under theusers weight. Thus, said bristles tips will not be caught between thebars 8 and the users shoe soles when the user steps on grating members 7and depresses the same.

The user must position his feet on the two grating members 7 on eachside of the dividing rod 4, to thereby actuate both control rods 47 bymeans of bell crank levers 43, to thereby close the two series-connectednormally open switches controlling the electric motor driving the belts20.

If only one grating member 7 is depressed by the weight of the user, themachine will not start its operation; this arrangement insures that bothsoles will be cleaned.

Upon starting of the motor, the grating members 7, together with thebrush assembly being in its lowermost position, the shaft 26 starts torotate in anticlockwise direction, as shown in FIGURE 5, therebycausing, by friction, release of the latching arms 48, whereby theassembly of brushes is allowed to raise under the action of their coilsprings 33. Thus, the brushes 21 come in full contact with the sole tobe cleaned. The sole is exposed to its maximum due to the bevelled topedge 8 of the bars 8, as shown in FIGURE 8.

The dirt and sand removed by the brushes is shaken out by transverse rod54 and falls within pan 53. The brushes during contact with the shoesoles, are allowed to bend with respect to the belts 20, due to the typeof brackets 22 being used to connect the brushes 21 to the belts 20.

The motor circuit includes a self-resetting time delay switch whichautomatically closes a warning circuit after a delay of, say, 10seconds. The normal bell 56 of the house, which is shown in FIGURE 10 asbeing mounted on top of the control box 38, but which will normally belocated anywhere in the house, and also a green light 57 located at thehouse entrance, are controlled by said electric warning circuit. Thus,only about ten seconds after starting of the machine will the bell startto ring for a limited time of, say, one second, inside the house to warnthe occupants of the presence of a person wishing to enter. Thiscontrives the person wishing to enter, to undergo the shoe sole cleaningoperation.

Green light 57 will become illuminated upon ringing of the bell, therebygiving an indication to the user that his shoe soles are cleaned,whereby the user can now step off the machine. It also tells the userthat the bell inside the house is already announcing the presence of avisitor. The machine will preferably carry the following instructionsfor use: place both feet on both grating members, then look for thegreen light located at entrance door. Upon short illumination of greenlight, step off the machine.

As previously indicated, the machine is provided with an alarm soundingdevice 58, which will become immediately operative if somebody attemptsto remove the outside box 1. Device 58 is actuated upon pulling on rod47.

When the user steps off the machine, the grating members 7 immediatelymove back to their original elevated limit position, thereby causingopening of the three twoseries connected switches through control rods45 and causing resetting of the time delay switch. The brush assemblyalso raises to the upper limit position, which is such that the latchingarms 48 can freely re-engage shafts 26.

Box 1 is preferably mounted in a hole made in the floor, so that the topof the machine is at the floor level. The cover 2 is used to protect themachine when the latter is completely outdoors.

The collected dust and dirt can be removed periodically by removing pan53.

In actual practice, for a cleaning cycle of approximately 10 seconds,approximately 1920 brushes will come in contact with the shoe soles toclean the same, so that the machine is very efiicient.

The universal joints 35 and 36 allow for up-and-down movement of frontshaft 26.

It will be noted that all the electric elements are located inside thehouse and that there are only mechanical connections between the machineproper and the motor unit, so that no electrical trouble may beexperienced outside. All the elements of the machine in box 1 arepreferably made of corrosion-proof material.

The electric elements in the motor box 38 are grounded to furthercompletely eliminate possible electric shocks.

It will be noted that the grating members 7 are long enough for theusers shoe soles to rest squarely on said grating members, and that theupper runs of the brushes carrying belts 20, are longer than the shoesso that the brushes engage simultaneously the entire length of the shoesoles. As the brushes are closed together and move relatively fast, theshoe soles are effectively cleaned in a very short time of, say, five toten seconds.

FIGURES 11 to 14 show a second embodiment of the machine in accordancewith the invention; more particularly, it is designed for use in theentrances of public buildings where people walk in without stopping.

For places where there is a substantially constant flow of people, thesystem will preferably operate continuously, in which the case thegrating member is mounted substantially flush with the floor and wiil belowered about one inch under the weight of a person, while the brushassemblies are mounted on shafts journalled in fixed bearings, so thatthe brushes will protrude from the grating member and will movetransversely to the direction of the oncoming public. The grating memberis long enough for the persons to be obliged to take at least two orthree steps thereon.

Because the brushes are already moving while the persons take steps ongrating member, it has been found that there is no danger of the brushbristles being caught up between the shoe soles and the grating member.

In public places where the traffic is less important, the machine isarranged to operate only when persons step on the grating member. Suchan arrangement is shown in FIGURES 11 to 14, wherein a box 60, ofelongated shape and open at the top, is disposed within a well made infloor 61, so as to be flush therewith.

A plurality of grating sections are mounted within box 60 with theirbars 62 arranged transversely to the path of the oncoming public, shownby arrow 63. Brush carrying belts are mounted between bars 62 and thebrushes 64 move in accordance with arrows 65.

The box 60 may be, for instance, wide x 70" long so that a person willhave to take at least two steps on the bars 62. There are as manygrating sections as desired, and each section is arranged for downwardmovement against the action of springs under the weight of the personwalking on the same.

Each section has a dependent rod 66 secured thereto and pivotallyconnected at its lower end to a bell crank lever 67, which is pivoted at68 to the box 60, or to a frame member rigid with said box.

The lower end 69 of each bell crank lever 67 is adapted to engage alaterally protruding stud 70, rigidly secured to a control rod 71 whichis common to all the bell crank levers 67 and, consequently, to all ofthe several independently sprung grating members of the machine. Thus,upon depression of anyone of said grating members, the control rod 71will be moved axially. Said control rod protrudes from the box 61 at oneend and closes an electric switch 72, upon axial movement of control rod71 under action of anyone of bell crank levers 67.

Switch 72 is connected in series with an electric motor 73 which drivesa shaft 74 by a belt and pulley arrangement 75, and belt tensioningdevice 76. Shaft 74 drives the several brushes 64 of the machine. Thus,all the brushes start to move upon depression of any one of the gratingmembers of the machine and, thus, the brushes will be operative as longas there is a person stepping on the grating members.

The grating members are mounted, together with the brush assemblies, inthe same manner as in the first embodiment and are provided withlatching arms corresponding to arms 48 of the first embodiment, t engagethe shafts of the several belts carrying the brushes 64.

The machine is provided with a main switch 77 for opening the circuitwhen the machine is not in use.

To use the machine, men have just to walk along the path made by thesurface of the machine and, similarly, ladies with low heels, whileladies with high heels should walk on the sole of the feet.

T increase the cleaning areas of the shoe sole, the vertical grid bars62 are preferably tapering upwardly.

The grating members of the several embodiments are lowered about oneinch under the weight of a person, but require a minimum of about 40lbs. to be lowered and operate the machine. This prevents young childrenfrom operating the machine. The machine according to the firstembodiment can take a maximum load of about 400 lbs. The distancebetween the bars 8 is about 1%" and the thickness of the upper edge 8 isabout /8 While preferred embodiments in accordance with the inventionhave been illustrated and described, it is understood that variousmodifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for cleaning shoe soles comprising at least two separatehorizontally disposed grating members mounted for independent verticaldisplacement between upper and lower limit positions, said grating memhers adapted to support a person, the shoe soles of which are to becleaned, said grating members each consisting of a plurality of spacedparallel bars laid on edge with their top edge adapted to be in directcontact with shoe soles, spring means urging said grating members intotheir upper limit position, shafts extending across said bars, pulleysmounted on said shafts between said bars,

flexible endless belts trained on said pulleys and disposed between saidbars, a plurality of outwardly directed brushes carried by said beltsand having their free end portion adapted to extend above the top edgesof said bars to come in cleaning contact with said shoe soles, means todrive said shafts, means controlling said driving means and responsiveto downward displacement of both said grating members to start operationof said driving means and responsive t upward displacement of at leastone of said grating members to stop operation of said driving means.

2. A machine for cleaning shoe soles comprising a horizontally disposedgrating member, adapted to support a person, the shoe soles of which areto be cleaned, said grating member consisting of a plurality of spacedparallel bars laid on edge with their top edge adapted to be in directcontact with a shoe sole, shafts extending across said bars, pulleysmounted on said shafts between said bars, flexible endless belts trainedon said pulleys and disposed between said bars, a plurality of outwardlydirected brushes carried by said belts and having their free endportions adapted to extend above the top edges of said bars to come incleaning contact with said shoe sole, means to drive said shafts, saidgrating member being mounted for vertical displacement between upper andlower limit positions, spring means urging said grating member into saidupper limit position, means controlling said driving means andresponsive to downward displacement of said grating member to startoperation of said driving means and responsive to upward displacement ofsaid grating member, to stop operation of said driving means, saidshafts, pulleys, belts and brushes forming a brush subassembly mountedin said machine for vertical displacement between an upper and a lowerlimit positions, said brushes in the upper limit position of saidgrating member and of said brush sub-assembly terminating below the topedge of said bars, spring means urging said brush subassembly into itsupper limit position, said brushes extending above the top of said barsin the lower limit position of said grating member.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein there are at least twoseparate grating members arranged for independent vertical displacement,said control means causing operation of said driving means only upondownward displacement of all of said grating members.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, further including latching armspivotally connected to said grating members and freely dependingtherefrom and having a stepped lower free end, automatically engageablewith said shafts in the upper limit position f said grating members andof said brush sub-assembly, whereby depression of said grating memberscauses simultaneous depression of said brush sub-assembly, and rotationof said shafts causes disengagement of said latching arms from saidshafts to allow upward movement of said brush sub-assembly under theaction of their spring means.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 2, further including latching armspivotally connected to said grating member and freely dependingtherefrom and having a stepped lower free end, automatically engageablewith said shafts i in the upper limit position of said grating memberand of References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 785,2733/1905 Sarchinger 15-203 1,567,832 12/1925 Broge 1536 FOREIGN PATENTS893,182 4/ 1962 Great Britain.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

STUART E. BECK, Assistant Examiner.

1. A MACHINE FOR CLEANING SHOE SOLES COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO SEPARATEHORIZONTALLY DISPOSED GRATING MEMBERS MOUNTED FOR INDEPENDENT VERTICALDISPLACEMENT BETWEEN UPPER AND LOWER LIMIT POSITIONS, SAID GRATINGMEMBERS ADAPTED TO SUPPORT A PERSON, THE SHOE SOLES OF WHICH ARE TO BECLEANED, SAID GRATING MEMBERS EACH CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF SPACEDPARALLEL BARS LAID ON EDGE WITH THEIR TOP EDGE ADAPTED TO BE DIRECTCONTACT WITH SHOE SOLES, SPRING MEANS URGING SAID GRATING MEMBERS INTOTHEIR UPER LIMIT POSITION, SHAFTS EXTENDING ACROSS SAID BARS, PULLEYSMOUNTED ON SAID SHAFTS BETWEEN SAID BARS, FLEXIBLE ENDLESS BELTS TRAINEDON SAID PULLEYS AND DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID BARS, A PLURALITY OF OUTWARDLYDIRECTED BRUSHES CARRIED BY SAID BELTS AND HAVING THEIR FREE END PORTIONADAPTED TO EXTEND ABOVE THE TOP EDGES OF SAID BARS TO COME IN CLEANINGCONTACT WITH SAID SHOE SOLES, MEANS TO DRIVE SAID SHAFTS, MEANSCONTROLLING SAID DRIVING MEANS AND RESPONSIVE TO DOWNWARD DISPLACEMENTOF BOTH SAID GRATING MEMBERS TO START OPERATION OF SAID DRIVING MEANSAND RESPONSIVE TO UPWARD DISPLACEMENT OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID GRATINGMEMBERS TO STOP OPERATION OF SAID DRIVING MEANS.